Week 1, Day 3 - The Day God Blessed

How would you respond if someone were to ask you: "What was the most special day in your life?" Maybe it was a graduation day, or a wedding day, or the day when your first child was born. Maybe it was the first time you traveled to an ocean or a mountain range. Maybe the day you gave your life to Jesus Christ and took that step of faith from which there was no turning back.

Our Creator knows that all of us need more than one "special day" in our lives. So he established the idea of a cyclical special day called the Sabbath. Actually this was God's special day before it ever was ours. He called it "holy," which means "different" or "set aside for a special purpose.' Creation accomplished, and then God stopped (ceased, Shabbat). He then gave this "Shabbat" as a special gift to Adam and Eve, and subsequently to all human kind. Throughout the Old Testament and into the New Testament, priests were sanctified or consecrated. So were the furnishings of the Temple of God and the temple itself. Symbolizing being set aside for a special purpose.

Our wonderful Creator wants each of us to have a "blessed" day - and doesn't that sound good! Right from the hand of the God. To have a day - not just a once-in-a-lifetime day - but a regular day, a once-a-week day, when we are invited to cease what we normally do and do something different in order to connect with God, connect with the important people in our life, and disconnect from the busy, frenetic, competitive, tension-filled days or our week. Our culture forgot long ago that God built into the creation itself this holy time of "rest".

For some people the seventh day works out to be a real Shabbat. They stay away from the office, do special things with the family, and reconnect with the home. It's a time for worship, a time of community with a people congregated where "holy" hands are lifted to praise and glorify Jesus, where the word is proclaimed. It's a time of refreshing. It is a time when we say "God, please do something different today. Please give me rest from my work. Please restore my body, heart, and soul. Please bless this day in a way that changes all of my days."

Make It Real

So sometime today think through with your family members if you live with family and seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit's wisdom to create ways to make your "Shabbat" experience intentional and special.

Day 4